Sergio Perez’s form is “disastrou൲s” for Red Bull, they have been warn🅘ed.

No sooner did the under-pressure Mexican finally sig🐬n a new contract which should have ended doubt about hi🌺s Red Bull career, a patch of rocky form has caused a new debate.

Perez failed to finish in Monaco or Canada, then finished a lowly eighth last weekend in Spain as꧑ teammate Max Verstappen won again.

Worryingly for 💫Perez, he finished behind both McLarens, both Mercedes, and bot🎃h Ferraris in Spain.

“It’s di❀fficult to understand,” Damon Hill said 💫on Sky Sports.

“He’s in the best car, next to McLaren.

🌄“But he’s not able to match Max which, now, means four or five grid places.

“It’s♌ disastrous for Red Bull if they want to score maximum points.

“Helping Max, and defen🌃ding in races, he’s nowhere near being up to sp🐈eed.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner leapt t💞o Perez’s defence.

He sa꧑id: 🐼“If I’m not mistaken I think we extended our lead today?

“We need Checo ൲in the mix. And he knows🌠 that. And the team knows that.

“And if he’s on the back end of the top eight you lose strategic options, whether you split it or so on, Checo in the first 4൲/5 races this year was fantastic, we just need to get him back into that headspace.”

Red Bull scored more points than any other team at last weekend’s Spanish GP than💧ks mainly to Verstappen’s victory.

They remain top of the constructor🙈s’ championship while, in the drivers’ standings, Perez is fifth - he trails Verstappen, Lan🅘do Norris, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

This weekend at the F1 Austrian Grand Prix - the home race for the Red Bul𝕴l team - scrutiny on Perez could be fierce.

Danica Patrick advised: “He needs to show pace from the beginning ▨of the weekend. And a really solid position.

“That way, he has more confideไnce going into qualifying to put himself in a better position there.

“That’🦹s really where he can make the most amount of progress.

“Then, just be💦 smar𝓡t in the races. He has an incredibly good car.

“To ma༒ke the most of that, and to not make mistakes, is how to put his best foot forward.”